This year marks 25 years since 9/11 took place and 20 years since the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci died. It seemed appropriate to me to revisit what Fallaci wrote about Islam, and about the Left.

By Martin Harlaar
To start, I asked Artificial Intelligence whether Fallaci was on the left. The answer: “Yes, Fallaci was a prominent figure within the left in Italy for a long time. She began her career during the Second World War and became a celebrated, left-oriented journalist and author.

Her political views drastically changed her later life. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, she became a fierce critic of Islam, which alienated her from the left-wing intelligentsia and actually made her popular with the right.”

I was particularly curious about just how drastically her political views had changed, so I first reread The Rage and the Pride (2002) and The Force of Reason (2004) before looking at her earlier publications. Anyone who reads all those publications gets to know a courageous, free-thinking, feminist, atheist woman.

The terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 drove Fallaci to anger, but also made her proud of Western values ​​and achievements. She continued to believe in the power of reason until the very end.

Her anger was directed at Islam and the cowardice of the Left, which refused (and often still does) to speak out unequivocally about wrongdoings; afraid of Islam, but also afraid of being ostracised by her brothers and sisters on the Left.

I have chosen to let Fallaci speak for herself and to provide a brief explanation only where necessary. The quotes are listed in order of publication date.

Her first book appeared in 1965. The original title was Il sesso inutile, literally The Useless Sex, but it was later retitled Women... in Her Changing Fate. The book had originally been published in 1961, after Fallaci had undertaken a world tour.

She had visited Pakistan, India, China, Japan, and Hawaii, among others, and – I quote the back cover – ‘sharply observed the many types of women and their living conditions, which finally enabled her to draw a comparison between the Eastern and Western woman.’

Women... in her changing fate (1)
“There is much sun in the lands of Islam—a white, harsh sun that blinds. But the Muslim woman never sees it. Her eyes are accustomed to the dark, like the eyes of a mole. From the darkness of the womb she comes into the darkness of the parental home, then into the darkness of the marital home, and finally into the darkness of the grave. And in all that darkness, no one notices her.” (p.29-30)

“Asking a Muslim about his women is tantamount to asking about a secret vice; when one day I said to the director of a Pakistani newspaper: “I have come to ask you something about the problem of the Muslim woman,” he became furious and replied: “What kind of problem? There is no problem of the Muslim woman.” Then he gave me a pack of mimeographed articles about the clothing of the Muslim woman, the jewellery of the Muslim woman, the makeup of the Muslim woman, how she uses coconut oil to make her hair shiny, how she uses henna to dye her palms and soles of her feet red, how she uses antimony mixed with rose water to dye her eyelashes. “Here,” he said, “it contains everything about Muslim women.” Then I asked him what the illiteracy rate was among Muslim women; he became angry and said: “Why do women have to learn to read and write? The only person they can write to is her husband. And if her husband lives with her, why would she go and send him a letter?”

Thirteen hundred years have passed since Muhammad spoke in the hot desert of Arabia. Although a new movement is evident among Muslim women, the vast majority of believers continue to observe the laws as if time has stood still.” (p.30)

Quotes from the interview Ayatollah Khomeini (2)
In September 1979, in the Iranian city of Qom, Fallaci interviewed Ayatollah Khomeini, who had returned to Iran earlier that year.

‘In 1973, I interviewed the Shah and wrote that he was a bastard. At the time, Khomeini allowed me to interview him, thinking I would write excellently about him. Actually, I also thought that Khomeini would appeal to me more than the Shah. Still, I only had to see him to know that I didn't like him at all, that he was just as much of a tyrant as the Shah, that his tyranny had replaced the Shah's tyranny, and so I wrote about him just as I had done about the Shah.’

FALLACI: ‘Is it justified to shoot the poor prostitute, a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, or a man who loves another man?’

KHOMEINI: ‘What do you do if your finger suffers from gangrene?’ Will you then let your whole hand, and subsequently your whole body, become full of gangrene, or will you chop off your finger? Whatever leads an entire country and its people to corruption must be eradicated like the weeds that overrun a wheat field. I know that there are societies where women are allowed to surrender themselves to satisfy the desires of men who are not their husbands, and where men are allowed to surrender themselves to satisfy the desires of other men. But the society we wish to build does not permit such things. In Islam, we wish to pursue a policy of purifying society, and to achieve this goal, we must punish those who harm our youth.’

The Anger and the Pride (3)
Oriana Fallaci was living in Manhattan when, on September 11, 2001, passenger planes hijacked by Islamic terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers just a short distance away. She wrote the book *The Anger and the Pride* that very same month.

‘I looked for a taxi, found none, then set off on foot to the Twin Towers that were no longer standing, and… After that, I didn’t know what to do. How to make myself useful, how to do something. And just as I was wondering what-am-I-doing, what-am-I-doing, the television showed Palestinians cheering the massacre mad with joy. They screamed *Hooray-Hooray*. Then someone told me that quite a few people in Italy were imitating them and grinned, serving the Americans right. And then, with the drive of a soldier climbing out of the trench and plunging at the enemy, I threw myself onto the typewriter. I was going to do the only thing I could.’ Writing.’ (p.13-14)

‘Of course, I am not addressing the vultures who enjoy seeing the images of the ruins and snickering: ‘Serves those Americans right.’ I am addressing the people who, (…) are still losing themselves in caution and doubt. And to them I say: Wake up, people! Wake up! Paralysed as you are by the fear of going against the current or appearing racist (a totally inappropriate word because the discussion is not about a race, but about a religion), you do not understand, or do not want to understand, that a Reverse Crusade is underway here. (…) A war they call Jihad: Holy War. A war that does not aim at the conquest of territory, perhaps (perhaps?), but which certainly aims at the conquest of our souls. At the disappearance of our freedom and at the disappearance of our civilisation, at the destruction of our way of life and death.’ (p.64)

‘Some do not mind. They don't give a shit. America is far away, they say; between Europe and America lies an ocean of water. Oh, no, dear people, you are mistaken: that is a sliver of water. For when the fate of the West is at stake, when the survival of our civilisation is in danger, we are America. We are the United States. We Italians, we Dutch, we French, we English, we Germans, wise Swiss, we Austrians, we Hungarians, we Slovaks, we Poles, we Scandinavians, we Belgians, we Spaniards, we Greeks, we Portuguese… And also us Russians, who, thanks to the Islamists of Chechnya, have had our bloodbaths. The Moscow bloodbaths. If the United States collapses, Europe collapses. If the West collapses, we collapse.’ (p.68-69)

Is it true that in Europe the contemporary leftist gurus, or what passes for the Left, do not want to hear what I say? Is it true that when they hear it, they fly into a rage and scream unacceptably-unacceptably? Have they perhaps converted to Islam en masse and are they now visiting mosques instead of community centres? Or are they screaming like this to accommodate their new ally and accomplice?’ (p.74-75)

‘During a Vatican synod in October 1999 to discuss relations between Christians and Muslims, an Islamic scholar blithely said to the bishops: “Thanks to your (European) laws we will invade you; thanks to our (Islamic) laws we will dominate you.” (4) ‘(Testimony by Monsignor Giuseppe Bernardini, Archbishop of the Turkish Diocese in Smyrna.)’ (p.77)

‘I am saying that our cultural identity, precisely because it has been well-defined for centuries, cannot tolerate a wave of emigration consisting of people who want to change our way of life in one way or another. Our norms, our values. I say that there is no place among us for muezzins, minarets, false teetotalers, damned chadors, and the even more damned burqas.’ (p.117)

The Power of Reason (5)
'The anger that raged through me two years ago has not subsided; on the contrary, it has even doubled. The pride that gave me strength two years ago has not diminished; on the contrary, it has even grown. (p.39-40) (...) With indignation and in the name of reason, I therefore resume the argument that I concluded more than two years ago with the thought: end of story.' (p.41)

‘Nowadays it is fashionable to show remorse for the Crusades, to condemn the West for the Crusades, and to view the Crusades as an injustice against those poor, innocent Muslims. But even more than a series of military ventures to recapture the Holy Sepulchre, the Crusades were the answer to four centuries of invasion, occupation, tyranny, and massacres. They were a counter-offensive to put a stop to Islamic imperialism in Europe. (…) And sure enough, when the Crusades were over, the sons of Allah started harassing us again, just like before. This time, it was the Turks who were preparing to found the Ottoman Empire. An empire that would flood Europe with its greed and gluttony until the eighteenth century, and that would make Europe its favourite battlefield.’ (p.49)

‘It must be said. In burning Europe, a disease is once again raging that, in the previous century, turned non-fascist Italians into fascists, non-Nazi Germans into Nazis, and non-Bolshevik Russians into Bolsheviks. And which now also turns traitors into those who do not wish to be traitors at all: it is fear. Fear is a deadly disease. A disease fueled by opportunism, conformism, the mentality of going along with everyone, and of course by cowardice, and which claims more victims than cancer. (…) I have seen friends, or supposed friends, who, albeit cautiously, took my side but withdrew out of fear and imposed self-censorship on themselves. But the most terrible thing I have seen is the fear of those who are supposed to protect freedom of thought and expression. In other words: the fear of the so-called official bodies and the press.’ (p.66-67)

Then just read a few surahs yourself, in which integration is forbidden and punished. This one, for example: “Allah does not permit His believers to form friendships with disbelievers. Friendship fosters affection, spiritual attraction, and a deeper understanding of the morals and way of life of disbelievers, even though their ideas are contrary to Sharia. Those ideas are aimed at robbing us of our independence and our dominance, to conquer us. But it is Islam that conquers. It is Islam that does not allow itself to be conquered.” Or this one: “Show no weakness whatsoever to the enemy. Do not ask him to make peace, and certainly not if you are the strongest. Kill infidels wherever you encounter them. Attack them and fight them, using every conceivable stratagem.” (p.119)

“In 1970, terrorism finally erupted in full force. A Swissair plane exploded en route with 48 passengers on board… Five hijacked planes were blown up… Antisemitism also resurfaced that year. An antisemitism that was immediately represented by the left-wing parties, who sided with the Arabs. And with the rise of antisemitism, victim mentality also made its entrance, spread through the brainwashing of gullible people. ‘Those poor Palestinians, they have no other choice but to kill us, right? It is Israel’s fault for robbing them of their homeland.’” (p.158)

‘After Amman, I went to Beirut. (6) Here, I interviewed his [Yasser Arafat – MH] rival, George Habash, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the man to whom we owed most of the attacks in the early 1970s. During the interview (…) my eyes were opened. For a while, an alert bodyguard kept a machine gun pointed at my head as a precaution; Habash explained very clearly that the enemy of the Arabs was not only Israel, but also the Western world. America, Europe, the West. He therefore named Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland, among others, as possible targets for an attack. And listen carefully now, do not miss a single word or comma of what I am quoting. Here it comes:

“Our revolution is part of a world revolution. We are not limiting ourselves to the reconquest of Palestine. We honestly admit that we want to unleash a war like the one in Vietnam, that we want a second Vietnam. And not only about Palestine but also about all Arab countries. The Palestinians are part of the Arab Nation. It is therefore necessary that the entire Arab Nation participates in the war against America and Europe, that a general war breaks out against the West. And it *will* break out. America and Europe must know that this is only the beginning of the beginning, that the best is yet to come, and that from now on, their peace is over. (…) Step by step, millimetre by millimetre, we are advancing. Year after year. Decade after decade. Determined, strong-willed, patient. That is our strategy.” (p.160-162)

‘I couldn’t even think of anything else anymore. So I asked everyone: ‘Do you understand why the Left sides with Islam?’ And everyone answered: ‘Quite logical. The Left stands up for the Third World, is anti-America and anti-Israel. Islam is that too. So the Left sees in Islam what the members of the Red Brigade call “their natural ally.”’ Or: ‘Well, that is simple. With the Soviet Union's decline and the rise of capitalism in China, the Left has lost its frame of reference. So it clings to Islam, as if it were a lifebuoy.’ (p.266)

‘The Left is a church. Not the kind of church we know from Christianity, so in a certain sense benevolent towards free choice, but a church that resembles Islam more. For just like Islam, the Left believes itself to be chosen by the guardian angel of Virtue and Truth. Just like Islam, it never admits its misdeeds and mistakes. It considers itself infallible and never asks for forgiveness.

Just like Islam, it demands that the world be shaped in its image and likeness, and that society be built on the verses of the prophet Karl Marx. Just like Islam, it turns its followers into slaves, intimidates them, and dulls their senses, even if they are intelligent. Just like Islam, the Left does not accept that you hold different ideas, and if you do, you are looked down upon with contempt. It humiliates you, persecutes you, punishes you, is autocratic and totalitarian, even though it has accepted the rules of democracy.’ (p.268-269)

The situation has not improved since 9/11. When Hamas carried out a terror attack on civilian targets in Israel on October 7, 2023, there was cheering once again. Jewish student Sid Wagenfeld described what happened at Leiden University:

‘On October 7, 2023, I had only been a student at the Faculty of Humanities in Leiden for a month, where I had started the Bachelor’s in Middle Eastern Studies. (…) On October 9, I had another lecture. To my great surprise and shock, a large group of people, certainly around twenty-five, were standing in the middle of my lecture hall dancing and cheering. They were waving Palestinian flags and wearing sweaters with slogans like “FREE PALESTINE” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. It was painfully clear that this was not a neutral protest, but a celebration of the bloody massacre that Hamas had perpetrated two days earlier.’

In June 2025, a motion was introduced by the Left in the Dutch Parliament advocating for an end to supplying Israel with parts used for the defence system with which it defended itself against rocket attacks from Iran, among others.

In August 2025, a motion was introduced by the Right advocating that the Dutch government exert pressure on governments that supported Hamas. The Left voted against this. The Left has learned very little since 9/11.

Sources:
(1) The Useless Sex, Oriana Fallaci (Forum Boekerij, Den Haag 1965)
(2) An Interview With KHOMEINI, Oriana Fallaci (NY Times, October 7 1979)
(3) The Rage and the Pride, Oriana Fallaci (Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, Amsterdam 2002)
(4) In The Rage and the Pride on page 77:‘Bishop Giuseppe Germano Bernardini wanted to illustrate the difficulties of achieving dialogue with Islam, and referred to certain significant statements by important Islamic religious leaders who have declared that “thanks to your (European) democratic laws we will invade you; thanks to our (Muslim) laws we will dominate you”; “you have nothing to teach us and we have nothing to learn”, and similar such remarks.’ So it should have read: ‘Thanks to your (European) laws we will invade you; thanks to our (Islamic) laws we will dominate you’.
(5) The Force of Reason, Orian Fallaci (Uitgeverij Bert Bakker Amsterdam 2004)
(6) In 1972, Fallaci first interviewed PLO leader Yasser Arafat and then George Habash.

Dutch historian Martin Harlaar works with the Humanist Association to get to the heart of important social themes. He is the author of various books: 'The Tamed Man': ' Where (do you think) our morality comes from?' (2021), 'Am I woke enough?' The gender experiment was published in January 2024. His previous contribution can be found here.